This website provides the following
resources related to the postage stamps of Herm in the Channel
Islands. Please click on the links above to reach the various
sections

An image and description of each of
the sets produced between 1949 and 1969

A set of articles by Dr Bob
Forrester and others about various aspects of the stamps of Herm

Details of Herm stamps still
available for purchase from the Herm Island shop

Links to other relevant websites and
contact details

The origins of Herm stamps

The postal history of Herm began on 1
May 1925 when the British Post Office established a sub office on the
island. This was open for only half an hour each day, but even
this limited operation was uneconomic and the office was closed on 30
October 1938.

In 1948 the then Tenant of Herm, Mr A.G.
Jefferies, was seeking to exploit the island's tourist potential and
asked for the office to be reopened. However the Postmaster
General refused to do so and Mr Jefferies decided to establish
his own local postal service from Herm to St Peter Port in Guernsey,
where it would be handed over to the Post Office for onward
transmission. The first stamps were produced for sale on 26 May 1949,
though all mail also had to carry British stamps. The Herm stamps
were placed on the back of envelopes, or in the top left hand corner of
postcards. A single stamp was also issued to pay for urgent
messages carried by pigeon post, as Herm did not have a telephone link
to Guernsey until late 1949.

Herm stamps were produced until, on 1
October 1969, Guernsey took over control of its own postal services
from the British GPO. The Tenant of Herm was no longer permitted
to produce stamps or allow them to be fixed to postal items.

The origins of this website

For
a number of years, Herm stamps have been available for purchase via the
Herm Island website (now www.herm.com
). Then in 2008, a new section of that website was set up, arising
from a conversation between two Herm stamp enthusiasts, Dr Bob Forrester
and David Ackroyd. They feared that because the many published articles on
Herm stamps had never been brought together, they could be lost if action
was not taken. From their archives and collections, a series of
illustrated articles were prepared and published on the Herm Island
website, with the assistance of Peter Hewitt as web editor and the
management of Herm Island Ltd. Together, they give some indication
of the scope and diversity of Herm's own stamps, and the history of its
independent postal service.

Sadly
Bob Forrester died on 30 January 2009. However, David, Peter, and Bob's
widow, Jean, are committed to making a permanent record of information
and articles, past and present, on Herm Island philately. www.hermstamps.co.uk
was created in January 2010 for this purpose and included several
articles written by Bob Forrester. It also provides an image and description of each of the sets of
Herm stamps produced between 1949 and 1969, prepared by David Ackroyd at
the request of the current Tenant of Herm, Mr John Singer.

Further
articles by other authors were added in December 2011. We would be
interested to hear from anyone who knows of articles that we could
consider including on the website. Completely new information is also
welcome. Contact us via editor@hermstamps.co.uk

The
support of the Tenant and of Herm Island Ltd is gratefully acknowledged.